After Two Visits, Need Some New Ideas

[bod diddy]

We have been to Orlando twice in the past two years and stayed on property for the entirety of the 14 night stays.

We had been planning to visit somewhere in Europe for a week in January, but when comparing the costs, we'd have been mad to go anywhere but Florida. Especially at that time of year, we will actually get sun in Orlando!

We have 9 nights booked and plan to stay on I Drive, usually it was more of a task to eat somewhere other than Disney. The only thing we really have planned is buying the ultimate Discovery Cove ticket which will give us access to those parks in the SW family.

This will only really use up about 4 or 5 days. This is where the dilemma comes in. We have no desire to go back to Universal and when looking into Disney, the tickets are so expensive for <5days that I'd feel sick paying the money. I don't know what to do, it seems odd to be there and just ignore Mickey.

Does anyone have any suggestions or personal experiences of being in our situation? Is there anything else we're missing? Should we just take it easy and enjoy not having an action packed day, every day?

Also, we won't have a car.

 

[lin85prest]

If you have a car why not do an airboat ride, we did the one at Boggy creek when we were over, we saw a large alligator swimming in the water and there was other wildlife. it only takes an hour or so depending on what tour you choose.

 

[Dimplenose]

when looking into Disney, the tickets are so expensive for <5days that I'd feel sick paying the money.

On the other hand would you feel even sicker having flown all that way and not spending the extra to go and visit the parks?

I suppose you could get a smaller Disney fix by visiting DTD, playing minigolf or having a character meal.

 

[bod diddy]

On the other hand would you feel even sicker having flown all that way and not spending the extra to go and visit the parks?

Oh, exactly! That's why I just don't know what's for the best. Something like the Pirates and Princess Party would have been perfect, but well, we all know about that.

 

[mackay_j]

there are a few good national parks about 1hrs drive away. Also the crystal river or silver springs parks. We went a few years ago and did not do any disney parks but we spent 2 great days touring some of the resorts. The kids did some of the ak activities and we had some good meals st the board walk and at the polly resort where we then stayed on the watch the fireworks over the clastle. We went on the boats between some of the resorts and played one of the mini golf courses. The campfire at wl may be a good place for one evening. It was very relaxing and added a disney element to a nondisney holiday. Any good place to go to is the gaylordpalms resort for dinner here you can see the alilgators and spend a few hrs looking around. We have also gone down to the everglades and that was very interesting, but you may need a stopover.

 

[juliebro]

This thread had a few ideas. I know, because I threw in a few!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2287328

Dinner at Gaylord Palms is certainly an experience I can recommend. The theming for the hotel is amazing!

 

[heatherbelle]

What about a cruise instead of staying so long in orlando. You will get all your food included.

There are some bargins to be had depending on what time of year you go.

Or a few days on the coast.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Before we became DVC members about 2 years ago, we always stayed on International Drive and we would do Disney only about every 3rd stay. We also don't like Universal. We have never been bored. I would recommend that you give Seaworld 2 days: one to do the shows and one to do the rides and other attractions. I also would recommend that you do one of the tours that they offer. Discovery Cove, Aquatica and Busch Gardens will take up a day each. We like to spend one day shopping and there is plenty to choose from : Mall at Millennia, Florida Mall, Prime Outlets, Orlando Premium Outlets and if you are in the general area Festival Bay and Pointe Orlando. There are plenty of attractions on International Drive that are worth a visit (Titanic Experience, Wonderworks, Ripleys Believe It Or Not, Trainland). Neither of those will take you a full day, but they combine nicely with a round or two of minigolf or go carting at Fun Spot or Magical Midway. There are 7 different mini golf places along International Drive and a lot of them have two courses to choose from. If you have a car, then a trip to Silver Springs or the Kennedy Space Centre is worth considering. The Space Centre is also possible as part of a bus excursion and there are also bus tours to Crystal River to see the manatees on offer. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. You should not be bored at all.

Corinna

 

[mikki.young]

Kennedy space centre is definitely worth a visit - there is also the Astronaut hall of fame (included in the ticket usually but if you want more than one day the AP upgrade is only about $12 per person and gets lots of discounts). You could consider ATX astronaut training experience that is great fun and includes an AP.

Offsite eating places that are good include Outback and Bahama Breeze.

Resort hopping can be a good way of getting a Disney fix or maybe you could do one of the resort character meals? All you need is photo id like a driving licence to get a 3 hour parking permit at any disney resort.

 

[powerranger]

I would think that seaworld, Discovery Cove, Aquatica and Busch Gardens will be plenty to keep you busy, we have just returned and I had the 3 park ticket and it was the best value ticket I have ever purchased, we went to aquatica 3 times, seaworld twice and BG just the once coz we ran out of time. There is always shopping, eating,visiting different towns and going to disney resorts for a osey to keep you busy.

 

[shaun&miranda]

Get your Disney fix in by visiting Downtown for an afternoon and evening, then on another day go and have dinner at a resort (like California Grill) where you can watch the fireworks.

Or maybe just do one day at Disney but make it a really good one at your favourite park?

Definitely do Discovery Cove! And like you say, just soak up being in lovely sunny Florida. There is tons to do but you can still do Disney without tickets. I know I would feel odd going to Orlando and not seeing Mickey at all!

Miranda

 

[Kath2003]

We have been to Orlando twice in the past two years and stayed on property for the entirety of the 14 night stays.

We had been planning to visit somewhere in Europe for a week in January, but when comparing the costs, we'd have been mad to go anywhere but Florida. Especially at that time of year, we will actually get sun in Orlando!

We have 9 nights booked and plan to stay on I Drive, usually it was more of a task to eat somewhere other than Disney. The only thing we really have planned is buying the ultimate Discovery Cove ticket which will give us access to those parks in the SW family.

This will only really use up about 4 or 5 days. This is where the dilemma comes in. We have no desire to go back to Universal and when looking into Disney, the tickets are so expensive for <5days that I'd feel sick paying the money. I don't know what to do, it seems odd to be there and just ignore Mickey.

Does anyone have any suggestions or personal experiences of being in our situation? Is there anything else we're missing? Should we just take it easy and enjoy not having an action packed day, every day?

Also, we won't have a car.

We're doing 9 nights of JUST Universal/Islands - there's so much to do there. We got a 7-day pass for £69 inc taxes so we intend to spend the first day shopping and overcoming the jet lag, perhaps visiting Disney etc. and then we'll spend the next 7 days using the parks as we wish.

The past few trips the prices for Disney have been INSANE (£200?!?! We're not paying that each for the hotel!) so we just go down and have a character meal in one of the hotels (have done O'Hanas, 1900 Park Fare and Cape May), browse Downtown Disney etc. You could easily spent two days doing that.

Last year we had 11 nights and we did this:
Day 1 - arrive, collapse into bed
Day 2 - Premium Outlets, went to Publix over the road for groceries
Day 3 - Universal Studios
Day 4 - Islands of Adventure
Day 5 - Universal Studios & Mall at Milennia
Day 6 - Disney (character breakfast and DTD) & Florida Mall
Day 7 - Sea World
Day 8 - Sea World & Premium Outlets
Day 9 - Universal Studios
Day 10 - Islands of Adventure & mini golf
Day 11 - Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios
Day 12 - home

We went to the parks early and stayed until about 11am-2pm and then went for a swim, got changed, dinner and drinks etc. - or we stayed in bed then went back to the parks in the evenings. We had no car and transportation cost us a total of $70 for two adults for the whole 9 days (we took a cab to the Mall at Milennia, two cabs up I-Drive from Sea World area and two cabs home from City Walk; the rest was buses or shuttles).

We didn't find we were bored; but we did find Sea World dull. The shows are lovely but we've seen them all (I've seen them a number of times). The dolphin show has been the same for 5 years, the Shamu show has been the same for 3, the sea lion show has been the same for over 5 years....it's nice to see them but we won't be going back.